Easter

by Patti Smith Group, Patti Smith

Overview

Patti Smith came back from the year-and-a-half break caused by her fall from a stage in January 1977 without having resolved the art-versus-commerce argument that had marred her second album, Radio Ethiopia. In fact, that argument was in some ways the theme of her third. Easter, produced by Bruce Springsteen associate Jimmy Iovine, was Smith's most commercial-sounding effort yet and, due to the inclusion of Springsteen's "Because the Night" (with Smith's revised lyrics), a Top Ten hit, it became her biggest seller, staying in the charts more than five months and getting into the Top 20 LPs. But Smith hadn't so much sold out as she had learned to use her poetic gifts within an album rock context. Certainly, a song that proclaimed, "Love is an angel disguised as lust/Here in our bed until the morning comes," was pushing the limits of pop radio, and on "Babelogue," Smith returned to her days of declaiming poetry on New York's Lower East Side. That rant (significantly ending, "I have not sold my soul to God") led into the provocative "Rock n Roll Nigger," a charged rocker with a chorus that went, "Outside of society/Is where I want to be." Smith made the theme from the '60s British rock movie Privilege her own and even got into the U.K. charts with it. And on songs like "25th Floor," Iovine, Smith, and her group were able to accommodate both the urge to rock out and the need to expound. So, Easter turned out to be the best compromise Smith achieved between her artistic and commercial aspirations. ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	08/14/2015
Label:	Sony Music
UPC:	0888751117211

Tracks

1. Till Victory
2. Space Monkey
3. Because the Night
4. Ghost Dance
5. Babelogue
6. Rock N Roll Nigger
7. Privilege (Set Me Free)
8. We Three
9. 25th Floor
10. High on Rebellion
11. Easter
12. Godspeed

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Patti Smith Group   Primary Artist
Patti Smith   Primary Artist,Vocals
Allen Lanier   Guest Artist,Guitar,Keyboards
Ivan Kral   Bass,Guitar,Vocals,Keyboards
Lenny Kaye   Bass,Guitar,Vocals,Bass (Vocal),Guitar (12 String)
Jay Dee Daugherty   Drums,Percussion
Richard Sohl   Piano,Keyboards
Bruce Brody   Keyboards,Synthesizer
Jimmy Maxwell   Pipe
Les Paul   Bass,Vocals
Todd Rundgren   Bass
John Paul Fetta   Bass
Andi Ostrowe   Percussion
Jim Maxwell   Bagpipes

Technical Credits

Charlie Conrad   Engineer,Engineer
Jimmy Iovine   Producer,Mixing
Thom Panunzio   Engineer
Shelly Yakus   Mixing
Bob Irwin   Mastering
Ivan Kral   Composer
Greg Calbi   Mastering
Lenny Kaye   Composer
Jay Dee Daugherty   Composer,Consultant
Mike Leander   Composer
Bruce Springsteen   Composer
Patti Smith   Composer,Performer
Vic Anesini   Mastering
Mel London   Composer
Tom Verlaine   Arranger,Composer
Gray Russell   Engineer
Lynn Goldsmith   Photography
Joe Intile   Engineer